Temporary mate removal during incubation leads to variable compensation in a biparental shorebird

Abstract

Biparental care for offspring requires cooperation, but it is also a potential source of conflict, since one parent may care less at the expense of the other. How, then, do parents respond to the reduction of their partners care? Theoretical models predict that parents that feed offspring should partially compensate for the reduced care of their partner. However, for incubating birds partial compensation is unlikely the optimal strategy, because the entire brood can fail with reduced care. Although biparental incubation dominates in non-passerine birds, short-term manipulations of parental care and evaluations of individual differences in the response, both crucial to our understanding of parental cooperation, are scarce. Here, we describe the response of semipalmated sandpiper (Calidris pusilla) parents to a 24-hour removal of their partner during the incubation period, explore factors that can explain individual variation in the response, and describe how incubation rhythms changed after the removed parent returned. On average, the parents compensated partially for the absence of their partners care (59%; 95%CI: 49-70%, N = 25 individuals). The level of compensation did not differ between the sexes. However, individual responses varied from no to full compensation (2-101%). In seven nests where the removed parent never returned, the widowed parent attended the nest for 0-10 days (median: 4 days). In contrast to patterns observed in undisturbed nests or in uniparental species, nest attendance during compensation tended to be higher during the warmer part of the day. Although the level of compensation was not related to the before-experimental share of incubation, more responsive parents (that left the nest earlier upon human approach) compensated more. The quality of incubation in the after-experimental period was lower than usual, but improved quickly over time. Our findings suggest that full compensation might be limited by energetic constraints or by variation in responsiveness to the absence of the partner. Nevertheless, semipalmated sandpiper parents are able to adjust their subsequent incubation behaviour to take full responsibility for the nest when widowed. Because (nearly) full compensation was the most common response, we speculate that all individuals attempt full compensation, but that some fail because their energy stores get depleted, or because they are less responsive to the absence of their partner.